Rhodes, and Italy's Aegean
BY DOROTHY HOSMER
"<J HODES, Island of Roses," someone
" murmured. I saw a blank line of
It medieval city walls. Would they pro
vide a refuge for me from war-torn Europe?
And for how long?
Details of recent hectic weeks elbowed into
mind: the flight from Copenhagen, mine fields
of the Baltic, darkened armored German trains,
a cross-city ride in blacked-out Berlin to catch
the south-bound express.
Now, two and a half days out from Brindisi,
our ship nosed into the harbor of Rhodes.
The long walls, topped by a feather-duster
palm and a few minarets, rolled back scroll
fashion to form St. Catherine's Gate.
But inside I did not find a dreaming land.
After nearly four centuries of apathy under
Turkish rule, Rhodes and others of the so
called Dodecanese Islands were occupied by
Italy in the Italo-Turkish War of 1912. Their
real awakening came about 1923 when their
importance to the Fascist plan of empire was
discovered.
A new life began. The name "Dodecanese"
was changed. Since it comes from the Greek
word "twelve," the Italians found it inappro
priate. Their possessions off the coast of Asia
Minor exclude Greek Ikaria, one of the origi
nal Dodecanese, and include Rhodes, Lipso
(Lisso), and Cos (Coo), which were not. Fur
thermore, there are not twelve but fourteen
major islands, with innumerable islets and
reefs. So they were officially named "Italian
Islands of the Aegean" (map, page 451).
Quakes, Bombs, Shatter Islands' Quiet
There was more to see, therefore, than
Rhodes alone. Soon I heard of other things.
One island had more houses than families. On
another modern medicine was born. The Book
of Revelation was written on a third.
I learned, too, that the region was subject
to earthquakes. In Rhodes later I felt tremors
from the devastating Anatolian quakes.
More recently the airdromes and fortifica
tions on some of the islands have felt another
kind of shock-the blast of British bombs.
On these strategic rocky islands between
Greece and Turkey lives a population about
equal to that of Scranton, Pennsylvania-ap
proximately 140,000 persons.
Though Italian subjects, they are strangely
assorted. Italy classifies them according to
religion.
The large majority are Orthodox
Christians, speaking a dialect of modern Greek.
Next in numbers are the Mohammedans of
Cos and Rhodes, whose language is Anatolian
Turkish. Besides these there are Spanish
speaking Jewish communities on the same two
islands, and recently introduced Italian farmer
families.
Street Chatter in Four Tongues
Chatter in the streets is in four tongues, and
shop signs appear in one or another of four
alphabets. With four religions, business was
shut down on so many different days that dis
tracted authorities finally set Sunday as the
official day of rest.
Here and there I found someone who under
stood my native "American," but in the main
I used the official tongue, Italian, interlarding
it with a few phrases of the language appro
priate to the occasion.
One's first impression of the islands is of
jagged, barren coastlines, and interiors with
stony, largely unfruitful soil.
Centuries of meager living have taught the
islanders frugality. The Orthodox population
lives chiefly from the sea. The captain who
owns his one-masted caique or two-masted
sailing vessel is representative.
I found Orthodox islanders also carrying on
small trades and industries, while the Jewish
population busied itself with commerce. The
Mussulmans, aloof and conservative, live
almost entirely from the land.
The age-old fishing industry suffices only
for the smaller islands. Rhodes' scarcity of
sea food was explained to me at the Marine
Station. The island is the summit of a moun
tain range with undersea slopes so steep they
have only a sparse submarine vegetation, and
the sea floor itself is far below the living level
of most fish. In fact, one of the Mediter
ranean's deepest spots, over 12,500 feet, is
about 25 miles off Rhodes' eastern coast.
None of the islands is self-sustaining in food
produce according to American standards,
and in recent years international politics have
brought to a standstill the once-flourishing
trade with Anatolia.
The chief export is really the people.
Many have migrated in the past decade
or so: Jews to the United States, Mussul
mans back to Anatolia, Greek Orthodox to
the Americas, Egypt, and Australia.
For
example, of the 6,500 inhabitants of little
Caso, most southerly of the group and lying
in an almost direct line between British-
Islands